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Obama Picks Leon Panetta as CIA Director – Democrat Senators Feinstein and Rockefeller Choke on His Lack of Intelligence Experience
US president-elect Barack Obama has chosen former lawmaker and White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, pictured in 2006, to head the Central Intelligence Agency, US media reported Monday
Guess POTUS – Elect did not consult with two senior Democrat Senators on the Senate intelligence Committee before he appointed “OUTSIDER” former Bill Clinton Budget Director and California Democrat Congressman, Leon Panetta as the Direcotr of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta has extensive government experience but virtually none in the intelligence community.Both Senators Feinstein and Rockefeller were nonplussed and may oppose Panetta’s confirmation.
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who this week begins her tenure as the first female chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said today that she was not consulted on the choice and indicated she might oppose it.
- “I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA director,” Feinstein said. “My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”
- A senior aide to Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), outgoing chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the senator “would have concerns” about a Panetta nomination.
- Rockefeller “thinks very highly of Panetta,” the aide said. “But he’s puzzled by the selection. He has concerns because he has always believed that the director of CIA needs to be someone with significant operational intelligence experience, and someone outside the political realm.”
Panetta would report to the Director of National Intelligence, Retired Admiral Dennis Blair who is also an Obama nominee and also faces confirmation by the Senate.
In the meantime, if the President-elect does NOT afford senior California Senator Dianne Feinstein the respect that she feels she is earned, Di Fi may very well return the favor by leaving the Senate Intelligence Committee Chairmanship to run for California Governor in 2010. Her term in the Senate expires in 2012.
Look for increasing crticism of this Obama nomination and its eventual withdrawal. The wrong man for the wrong job here.
Technorati Tags: Leon Panetta, Jay Rockefeller, Dianne Feinstein
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Ann Coulter Reportedly Banned for Life at NBC – A Badge of Honor; Update: NBC Denies It
+++++Update+++++NBC apparently denies the story.
Late today, NBC News denied the story with this statement: “We’ve had Ann Coulter on ‘Today’ many times, but because of the news in Washington and the Middle East, we decided to cancel her appearance tomorrow. Understanding the media as well as she does, we are sure she knows this happens from time to time. We look forward to welcoming her back in the future.”
Ann Coulter tomorrow will be on CBS’s The Early Show instead – Touche NBC
BFD – Let NBC keep their FAR LEFT Talking Heads Chris Matthews, Olbermann and Maddow.“We are just not going to have her on any more, it’s over,” a top network source explains.
NBC’s TODAY show abruptly cut Ann Coulter from its planned Tuesday broadcast, claiming the schedule was overbooked.Coulter was set to unveil her new book, GUILTY.
But one network insider claims it was the book’s theme — a brutal examination of liberal bias in the new era — that got executives to dis-invite the controversialist.
“We are just not interested in anyone so highly critical of President-elect Obama, right now,” a TODAY insider reveals. “It’s such a downer. It’s just not the time, and it’s not what our audience wants,either.”
For the book, Coulter reportedly received the most-lucrative advance ever paid to a conservative author.
The TODAY show eagerly invited the author months ago, for her first network interview on GUILTY.
The exclusive was to air during the show’s 7 AM hour. The cut came Monday afternoon.
Executives at NBC TODAY replaced Coulter with showbiz reporter Perez Hilton, who recently offer $1,000 to anyone who would throw a pie at Ann Coulter. Hilton is also launching a new book this week, RED CARPET SUICIDE.But, you know what – Republican pols and conservative activists should remember Matthews’s set-up of Representative Michele Bachmann and boycott the MORONS at NBC anyway.
Technorati Tags: Ann Coulter, NBC
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Meg Whitman Apparently A Go for California Governor Race
Meg Whitman, formerly President and CEO of eBay
So Says Ben Smith over at Politico. But, it has been known for quite some time here in California GOP circles.
Whitman will first have to beat the only elected statewide GOP officeholder, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner in the June 2010 primary election and then likely face off against Democrat former California Governor and current Attorney General Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown.Let’s look at a fairly recent poll:
Meg Whitman will have the support of California conservatives, Proposition 8 (pro-traditional marriage) supporters and will be able to self-fund a formidable advertising campaign.
Stay tuned………
Update:
The Poitico had another piece later in the day outlining an uphill battle for Whitman.
“The good news for Meg Whitman is that she’s a billionaire and can finance a lavish campaign. The bad news is that her main rival, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, is also a billionaire and can match her dollar for dollar,†said John J. Pitney Jr., a political science professor at California’s Claremont McKenna College.
Despite her national profile, Whitman still faces an uphill climb in terms of voter identification. A November statewide survey of 527 registered voters conducted by the Field Poll showed that 67 percent had no opinion of the former eBay CEO while 17 percent held a favorable view and 16 percent viewed her negatively.
Flap thinks Whitman has “the outsider” working for her, especially since California voters are “pissed off” with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democrat dominated California Legislature.
A fresh face is perhaps what the voters want, especially if she is to face retread California Governor Jerry Brown.
Technorati Tags: Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner
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No Deal Between Harry Reid and Roland Burris – Senate Game of Chicken Brewing?
Roland Burris talks to the crowd at the New Covenant Baptist Church during a rally in Chicago, Sunday. Burris currently on his way to Washington D.C. to fight for Barack Obama’s Senate seat.
The Secretary of the United States Senate has refused to accept Roland Burris’ appointment by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.Firing the first shot in Washington in the fight over the appointment of Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate, Gov. Blagojevich’s acting chief of staff hand-delivered Burris’ nomination certificate to the Capitol this morning — only to see it rejected by the secretary of the Senate.
Chief of staff Clayton Harris delivered the certificate around 8 a.m., eastern standard time, said Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero.
The secretary of the senate and two assistants acknowledged receipt of the document “but did not formally accept it” because it did not bear Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White’s signature, Guerrero said.
White refused to sign the certificate last week, joining the chorus of politicians who say Blagojevich is not fit to fill the vacant seat because of his Dec. 9 arrest on corruption charges. The governor and Burris are hoping the Illinois Supreme Court will force White to sign the document.
Stay tuned as this drama plays out and Burris makes his way to Washington D.C.
Technorati Tags: Roland Burris, Rod Blagojevich
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Al Franken Going to the Senate?
Flap finds this whole situation in the Minnesota Senate race hilarious.It’s all but official: A professional Democrat clown will join all the amateur ones already in the Senate.
Al Franken is going to Washington:
Democrat Al Franken will be declared the winner of the tight U.S. Senate contest in Minnesota, emerging from a ballot recount with a slim margin over Republican Norm Coleman, state officials said on Sunday.
But Coleman, the incumbent, has asked Minnesota’s supreme court to require that a few hundred additional absentee ballots be included in the recount — and he could then ask the court to investigate the contest all over again.
“At the moment, Franken has a 225-vote lead,†after the weekend counting of what were deemed the last uncounted absentee ballots, said Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat who oversaw the process.
Ritchie said unless the supreme court acts on Coleman’s request and orders more ballots to be counted, he will reconvene the state’s Canvassing Board on Monday to certify Franken as the winner of the November 4 contest.
Remember the voters in Minnesota elected Jesse “The Body” Ventura to a disastrous term as their Governor.
Minnesota deserve who they vote for – what a joke!
Technorati Tags: Al Franken, Norm Coleman
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Republican Party in Free Fall – Number of Democrats Increases for Third Straight Month
Partisan trends do not look good for the Grand Old Party.The number of Americans who consider themselves to be Democrats inched up again in December to 41.6%. That’s up two-tenths of a point since November and the third straight monthly increase in the number of Democrats.
Only once since Rasmussen Reports began tracking this data on a monthly basis in 2002 has the number of Democrats been higher. In May, as the Obama-Clinton primary battle neared its conclusion, 41.7% of Americans said they were Democrats.
At the same time, the number of Republicans declined a full percentage point from 33.8% in November to 32.8% in December. That’s the lowest number of Republicans since August. The number claiming allegiance to the GOP peaked in September at 34.4% as the party enjoyed a convention bounce and Sarah Palin was picked as the party’s Vice Presidential nominee.
The number not affiliated with either major party inched up from 24.7% in November to 25.6% in December.
These figures are not a shock but will be food for thought for the next Repuiblican National Chairman. How ill the party increase its numbers without alienating its conservative base, driving them to the not affiliated column.
During the Goldwater/Reagan era there was a coherent message. This will be the challenge for a revived GOP post Bush – message and its deliverance within a changing demographic landscape.
Stay tuned……
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Ron Paul – Why GOP Online Efforts May Fall Flat
Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas
The buzz preceding today’s Republican National Committe Chariman debate base has been increasing technology and internet based efforts.But, will the GOP be able to successfully incorprate a successful strategy with Ron Paul in the mix?
Here’s a mark of the continuing energy behind Ron Paul, and the parallel lack thereof among other Republican Party structures, particularly online: the Digg-style website set up by Americans for Tax Reform for its Republican National Committee Chairman debate tomorrow has been entirely taken over by Paul supporters.
Flap supports a balanced strategy and no draconian change in the party apparatus. It wasn’t the internet that hurt the party brand and caused electoral losses.
The internet ALONE will not lead the Republican Party back to electoral success. And, Ron Paul is a symptom of foolish extremism that is but a minor diversion which will fade.
Watch the RNC Chairman debate live here.
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Flapsblog.com: Day By Day by Chris Muir January 5, 2009 – Color Guard
Day By Day by Chris Muir
Watch Barack Obama today as he spins attention to an economic stimulus package and away from the corruption infesting Chicagoland and national Democrat Party politics. Roland Burris will NEVER be barred from the Senate.And, the MSM is already enabling him by drawing attention to his wonderful children attending an exclusive and private Washington D.C. area school. Plus, NBC News is already hyping the inauguration while trashing New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as a liar to “The One.”
Is the political honeymoon for Obama going to last six months or four years?
Previous:
Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Barack Obama
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links for 2009-01-05
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But McConnell said Republicans would press Democrats on the scope of the program. He took issue, for example, with Obama’s stated intent to use the public sector for 20 percent of the 3 million new jobs the plan would presumably create.
“That would be 600,000 new government jobs. That’s about the size of the post office workforce. Is that a good idea?†he said. “That’s something that strikes us that we ought to take a look at… I think, at least, hearings, and some kind of bipartisan considerations would be helpful.â€
The Republican leader said potential areas for quick, bipartisan agreement include tax cuts — he suggested lowering the 25 percent middle-class tax rate to 15 percent — and nine appropriations bills left unpassed last year that total $400 billion.
“They’re ready to go. They’ve already been vetted by both sides, would pass on an overwhelming, bipartisan basis, and much of that spending, would be on things similar to what the president may be asking for in that package
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